Copper Colored Horizon
by D.D.Darkwriter
Summary: Dib's reflections on his life while in the clutches of Zim. Dark, not too dark. I tried for sad. I do not want to ruin anything, but if you don't like morbid things or unhappy endings, do not read please. No pairings.


Title: Copper colored horizon

Chapter: One shot

Rating: M for mature. Morbidity.

Pairing: None.

Characters: Zim and Dib

Summary: Dib's reflections on his life while in the clutches of Zim. Dark, not too dark. I tried for sad. I do not want to ruin anything, but if you don't like morbid things or unhappy endings, do not read please. No pairings.

Other: Warning: Tragedy. Character Death.

Copper Colored Horizon

"It's poison." The voice was dark, and the man would have liked to hear nothing from the other…creature. It was hard enough to swallow, but still even more so to breathe.

Sickened, and his spine shivering, his eyes fell closed and he felt hot stinging tears begin to burn through his slits, falling to the ground seconds before the blood and floor of the base. His hands would have balled into fists, but he had no strength to do so. Even still, if he wanted to turn his head away from the pile of puke, he was unable to.

He coughed, choking once more on something that threatened to leave his body. Pulsing, his body once more shook violently before he parted his lips and threw up a clear liquid, most likely stomach acid. His glasses fell away from his face in wild compulsion, and he could not hear the laughing taunts of the alien standing above him. His ears rang with something else, and his vision blurred as he opened his eyes to try and get a grasp on what to do next.

His head spun wildly as soon as he looked up, trying to focus on the green alien. "Wh-what have you done?" He asked, confused. He tried desperately to swallow, but the second he did, his stomach twisted in torment, as if the task was far too large for him to deal with.

"The mighty genius ZIM had poisoned you. You'll die soon Dib-stink." Zim's voice was not only happy sounding, but thrilled at the sight of the other's pain.

Dib caught himself as he opened his mouth, seconds later only to open his mouth again to start throwing up. He closed his eyes, not believing his current situation. How could he have been so stupid? After all of the years that he had thought the alien was not only incompetent of actually harming him, he had gone against his own rules, and entered the alien's base after days of inactivity from the green space invader. Dib felt his stomach yank again, and his first response was to cry out, his stomach tightening as if something were actually cutting into his skin.

Drawing his arms up, he pressed on the area, trying so hard to defend himself from the invisible object stabbing into him. He cried. He yelled out, his voice falling to no one except the small robot, and the now nearly six foot tall space invader. Dib cried out, not for help, but a begging plea to end that pain that was being forced through his body. He choked on blood, and curled his body forward, his forehead nearly touching the ground in front of his knees.

After all of these years…Dib was 20 years old now, starting college, close to home so that he could still keep wary eye on Zim…He was happy, he had gotten a cat, and a ferret. He had been looking at some nice apartments, he was even starting to do good in his science experiments as well as his research on big foot and other supernatural beings. Dib was living his life. It wasn't a great life, but it was one that he had finally started to become proud about. He was adjusting to everything new in his life, such as being away from his only two relatives that he had (almost) come to see as the only two people that mattered in his life. He had even found great ways of dealing with the stresses of his new life.

Dib was nearly content. Once he had found himself away from Zim and all of his obsessing ideas of how to take over the world, he had found the alien nearly harmless. Dib had always thought that some day Zim would prove himself to be something dangerous to Earth and all of her inhabitants, but he had never imagined that he would ever be taken down so easily. Dib wretched his insides again, spewing something that smelled a lot like cold metal, and rotten milk onto the pile of throw up that was already encrusting around his own body. He picked his head up, looking up at Zim.

When had the alien become so powerful and smart? When had Zim actually started thinking in a way that forced Dib to shiver. When did Zim become dangerous? He felt the tears rolling down his face burn, as if they had a higher concentration of salt then before, or as if his skin was becoming more sensitive to the air and liquid now moving over his body. Zim smiled, his magenta eyes narrowing in proud bravodo, as if he were a hero.

Dib's body shook again, and he gasped for air, each breathe that was taken forcing his throat to scream in pain. Why was this happening. He gripped his stomach, his nails digging into the shirt htat he wore, nearly touching his skin. Shaking his head, he wondered why he had been so stupid.

He closed his eyes, finding sudden fault with everything that he had not only done today, but from every day leading up to this one. His high school days with Zim passed by him. All of the times he had the chance to kill Zim, but did not due to some sort of fear that nagged him every night before bed. Why had he been so pathetic in his task? He should have just taken the alien's life…He should have done it before he went to college, a year earlier when he had the chance. He remembered seeing Zim in the park, looking up the stars, as if the alien could see through his imitation human eyes, and way out into the solar system. Dib remembered being mesmerized by the look on the alien's face that night, the look of pure sorrow and loneliness. Dib had stood there, in the bushes, gun loaded, but did nothing. He simply stood there, watching Zim look up at the sky. How Dib longed to see through those alien eyes, to see what he saw and felt what he felt at that exact moment. Dib had remembered the thought though. The feel of the warm air brushing softly through the trees and onto his face. It was in that moment of watching Zim look up at the sky that Dib remembered who the alien looked like. Himself. He had been unable to pull the trigger that day due to the fact that when he had seen that alien standing there alone so sad, he had remembered himself standing up and wondering why he felt so alone for so many years. Although Dib was unsure of what the alien had been thinking of while looking up at the sky, he had known that sad look, and he had felt htat same pain of being nothing and no one…Out of everyone inside the entire world, he was just another person, alone and doomed to run around the Earth until he died. Dib had known that instead of just the Earth though, Zim was facing a more terrible idea, the thought of being not only a lone on Earth, but also in the entire universe. Back on Irk, Zim was most likely a low ranking general, but at least he had his own kind back home. Here on Earth, Zim only had Gir, a robot that constantly malfunctioned.

Dib had tucked the gun away, and silently said his goodbyes to Zim, feeling an odd sense of relief when he saw how defeated the alien looked. For a first time, he felt confident about leaving Zim's side, not having to dwell on the fact that the alien was thinking of a way to destroy Earth. Dib felt at peace with Zim. Although he hated to think of Zim as anything but a normal being, it was from that stance Zim took on that night that forced Dib to think that Zim was just a normal creature trying to survive.

Dib had left Zim then, and the next day he had gone to college. Of course every weekend he would come back and look for Zim. He would make sure that the alien was still his old self. He would check up on Zim, and when he found the alien tolerable enough, he would then go back to school, confident that the alien was still pathetic in his attempts to take over the world.

It was a flashed by year until Dib returned, and then once more went back. Over the period of time, he had slowly lost interest in the alien it seemed. It was as if once Dib had left his watch over Zim, he had begun to forget about the alien. The look of sorrow that had corrupted Zim's face was the image that Dib always reverted to when he was on the brink of sleep, or forgetting about the green creature. It was in these most silent nights, even though he would have essays and papers and research to worry about, that his mind always thought back to Zim. It was not the dangerous Zim though, or the feeling of threat that had once come with the name "Zim", but rather a solitary green colored boy who was lost.

Dib wanted to check on Zim when he had gotten back from college over a short fall break. He had wanted to simply walk past the house, see if he could hear or see anything that might hint to the alien stepping out of line…On his walk, he remembered the small robot Gir, laying motionless in the yard. He had remembered moving to see if Gir was okay.

Although Gir was technically an alien and enemy, Dib had held no ill will towards the little robot. He had even found help from him one or two times in the past. Dib remembered picking the robot up, and then the bright, red lights of the robot humming on. He had flinched at the tight grasp of the robots hooks as they pierced his arms in an attempt to latch onto him. He had become terrified when he heard the voice behind him hiss out, "Got you."

Dib had at that point been drugged with something, he was unsure of what though. He remembered the pain that shot through his body when Zim had pushed the needle deep into the skin of his neck, and then injected the liquid into his body. They had been outside while this event was taken place, and although Dib could not be heard once the needle had broken his skin, he had screamed and shouted while trying to fight off the invader. Further adding injury to himself after the injection, he fought to break away from not only Zim's more powerful frame, but also the claws that Gir had stuck into his body while he had struggled.

"Let go of me! What the hell are you doing Zim?" Dib had screamed again, now being dragged into the alien's base. "Let go of me you fucking alien!" He had screamed out, but as he was being dragged behind closing doors, and although he had seen a few people come out of their houses to inspect the situation, no one did anything. He glared back at them, their lack of emotion and empathy to help him amazing the 20 year old man.

The doors were closed, and he was dragged down to the depths of Zim's control lab. He had been thrown against a wall, but once he stood up to fight off the alien to escape his enemies' clutches, he found his knees soon giving out.

His muscles tightened, and his head felt so heavy. His vision wiggled, distorting every metal or plastic object of the room. He tried to stand, but instead fell forward, his toes feeling painfully obvious to the ground suddenly as he tried to shift his weight onto them. Dib had looked up, confused. He tried desperately to breathe, but the air tugged at his lungs, and his heart rate slowed down. He was so dry, his skin seeming to crack as he tried hard to shake himself from the fear of some unidentified phobia. Delusion seemed to pulse through his body as he shook his head.

In an instant though, he could hear that voice above him, the smile plastered on the green face even though Dib could not look up at the moment. "Finally…" The voice was dark and smooth. In another second that passed, Dib was overwhelmed with liquid, painfully aware of how much water his body seemed to have. Weight that wasn't there bore down onto his human frame. He fell, his chest slamming into the ground. His body heaved up guts it seemed for the first time that day.

During the laughing and the mocking jeers that came from the alien above him, Dib had thrown up and weakened his body and mind. He was now crying, unable to deal with the sudden stress on his body. He had felt sickened like this once when he had food poisoning, and he had known what a panic attack was. He had once before felt the symptoms of morbid delusions and what could be categorized as hallucinations. He had never felt this sort of pain though, this overwhelming act of death. He shivered again, trying so hard to pick his body up off of the ground.

His hand rocked for a second, seeming to hold the demanding weight of Dib's body. It was broken though when Zim kicked the hand away, forcing Dib's jaw to slam into the ground again, sick bile sloshing against his head. His nostrils were overwhelmed with the smell of his own inner liquids and half dissolved food. He screamed, unable to believe the alien had done this to him.

Dib lay there, unable to pick his body up, and unable to cry. He sniffled, simply laying there. Finally, his eyes opened, and for a second he was able to focus his eyes on the alien called Zim. He was able to look at the happy smile on the alien's face. He thought of the night that he had seen that alien frown, his glazed over eyes looking up at the stars. Dib remembered the feeling of connecting for a second with the alien, of actually processing the sympathetic thoughts humans were capable of holding for not only one another, but also other species, animals…plants….trees…He remembered the feel of the wind on his cheek that night, and he remembered how much he wanted to connect, even for a second with the alien. He thought they had been so alike. He had thought…that maybe they really were one in the same.

He was wrong. Where Dib had put the gun away, and moved on with his life, Zim had metaphorically picked it up. The alien was different than Dib in the way that he was able to develop, and keep harboring such hate for others, for humans. For his first intentions of dominating the planet. Dib had given up the fight with Zim, moved on to college, and even processed a future where he would become a decent or even great man. Dib realized that Zim was actually better than him because he had been able to do what Dib had never even attempted to do…Kill. Dib felt that sorrow for the alien, and now he felt a sickening calm.

Dib felt his body slow down, the final sickness of whatever poison the alien had used finally taking it's final toll on his body. He gave into that coldness, unsure of where he would end up. For all of Dib's wants and needs to fulfill in his human life, he only slightly wished that he would become a ghost…perhaps something supernatural…and he felt like a child again.

His mind waved as the image of Zim faded out. He could no longer hear, but his mind could process the image of his sister when she was younger. He could see Zim on the first day of school, he saw his dad, and he saw himself. He saw the smiles on his face every time he went on his own adventure to look for big foot and other supernatural beings. He remembered the thrill of Mysterious Mysteries everyday…Most of all, he remembered Zim. Dib died.

End.

Began: 9/11/11 at about 5:30pm

End: 9/11/11 at 11:36pm

I was feeling stressed. I've been working on a new Gorillaz fic because I really really want to work with Cyborg Noodle and Bry. Also, I've been working on a few Invader Zim fics, I figured that this would be a good one to start with because I feel the urge to kill someone who isn't real. I think I met my goal today. Anyway, if I have been out of character, which I would suppose that it is, I am sorry. Hope you have a nice day…Thanks for reading.

-D. D. Darkwriter

Capture the dead and bury the living, we'll all fall down.


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